The Black Codes were laws that were passed in the southern regimes in the south after the Civil War. The laws were designed to regulate the affairs of the freed blacks. They were aimed to ensure a stable labor supply and they sought to restore, as closely as possible, the pre-freedom system of racial relations. They recognized freedom and a few other rights, such as the right to marry, but they still prohibited the right to serve on a jury, or renting or leasing land. No blacks were allowed to vote. They mocked the ideal of freedom and created horrible burdens on the free blacks who were desperately struggling to make it. The north viewed it as re-enslaving the freed slaves. They thought that if this was true then the war was fought in vain. These laws caused Radical Republicans to pass the Civil Rights Act in 1866.
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